Former India batter Robin Uthappa questioned the need to have disturbed the Sanju Samson-Abhishek Sharma T20I opening association after Shubman Gill fell for a golden duck in the second T20I against South Africa at his home ground in Mullanpur on Thursday.
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Gill’s patchy form since his return to the T20I fold after a year, starting with 2025 Asia Cup in September, has raised questions given that the Punjab batter hasn’t turned up with big knocks after displacing Samson. In 2024, Samson emerged as India’s top batting performer post the T20 World Cup, smashing three hundreds in five innings against Bangladesh and South Africa. The Kerala batter became the first man to record three centuries in a calendar year before losing out his spot to Gill, who returned to the side after over 14 months as vice captain.
Gill has failed to score a half-century since his return in 17 consecutive innings as a T20I opener, the worst such stretch for an India opener in the format. Uthappa questioned as to why did the team management helmed by Gautam Gambhir need to disrupt the combustive Samson-Abhishek combination.
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“Suryakumar [Yadav] said Gill opened the batting before Sanju Samson got the opportunity to open. But once you have him the opportunity, he has got three hundreds in that and has done really well. He’s averaging the second or third highest after Abhishek Sharma. He must be thinking what wrong have I done to not find a spot? Is that communication alive with Sanju Samson, where they’ve said, ‘We are going to try Shubman out for a few games, if it doesn’t work out, you jump straight back in’,” Uthappa said on his YouTube channel.
‘Gill batting opposite to his stengths’
Uthappa also observed that Gill is not attempting to stick to his strengths in the format since his comeback.
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“He’s batting completely opposite to what actually works for him and what actually gives him success. He’s the kind of T20 batter who gets in a little bit. He’s not a Sanju Samson or Abhishek Sharma type of opening batter. He’s the kind of guy who gets in, and once he gets in, you can’t get him out,” said Uthappa.
“But he has to go through that passage of batting those first ten balls and scoring a run-a-ball or striking at 120 and up the ante after that. Because once he bats those first 15-18 balls, it’s almost impossible to get Shubman Gill out. So he’s doing something that’s counterintuitive to his batting right now,” he added.
Samson or Gill?
With less than two months to go for India’s opening game of the 2026 T20 World Cup in Mumbai, Uthappa said that it is imperative that India slot in their second opener immediately.
“You want to figure out what works best leading into a World Cup because the Sanju-Ahhishek pair was working. It was a pair that complemented each other and brought the middle order into the game, whether it worked or not. For example, it was on the back of Sanju’s hundreds that Tilak came in and scored his hundreds in South Africa. So that was a working piece that was changed, albeit to accommodate Shubman Gill,” the 2007 World Cup winner added.